Are More Bedrooms Better?

When it comes to purchasing a new home, there are a lot of factors to consider. Of course, there are things like the location, the price and possible repairs, but one of the factors we think about the least is the number of bedrooms the property has.

When we do start to think about it, we wonder, are more bedrooms better? Or is there a certain standard that the average American adheres to when purchasing a home?

Basically, there are different aspects to consider when deciding how many bedrooms your new house should have. The most important would definitely be the need of your family, but then it might also be beneficial to think about how attractive your home will be should you choose to resell it eventually.

Factors to Consider

Before we tackle reselling, below are some important points to consider for your family’s needs:

Family Size – By now this should be the obvious. If you have four kids, then four bedrooms may be ideal. But then, you can have options. For example, you could have your two daughters share a room if the space is large enough.

Also, if you are starting out with two children, but you plan to have even more, then you may as well go ahead and buy a home with more bedrooms rather than having to relocate to a bigger home when your family expands.

Space – It’s possible to get an estimate of the space available in the house by asking for the floor area in square feet. The average area for a 3 bedroom home is 1,500 sqft, while the usual bedroom would be 144 sqft. However, if the house is larger than that, then you can imagine bigger bedrooms and the possibility of putting two children in one bedroom.

Affordability – It’s common sense to think that the more bedrooms a house has, the more expensive it is. So, despite your need for more rooms, if your checkbook can’t afford it, then you may have to settle for a house with fewer bedrooms. In this case, you can also choose to relocate to a less expensive area where house prices are cheaper.

Selling Your Home in the Future

It can be very exciting to buy a new home, and, of course, we would most probably think about our own wants and needs before those of others. However, if you can already see the potential of your family moving to a bigger house eventually, or relocating, then it might be smarter to put your needs aside and think about what would make a house resell faster.

As trivial as it may sound, the number of bedrooms does matter since this is one of the things that buyers ask for aside from the total square footage. This is also what is featured in broker’s listings. For example, a 4bed/3bath generally sounds standard to buyers rather than a 6bed/4bath house which might already be too large.

Although there really is no standard number of bedrooms nationwide that generally sell faster, it is possible to check the trend within your neighborhood. In some areas, a 3bd house is the standard. In other area, however, a 3bd house is in a confusing middle ground between a cheaper 2bd for a starting family, and a 4bd for a larger family who can afford a pricier home.

If you are already stuck with a house that has a lesser number of bedrooms than what most buyers prefer, you can have the option of turning the TV room or the den into an extra bedroom. Just be careful not to divide a bedroom into two just to accommodate the norm, especially if the resulting space for the bedrooms are small.

It would make no sense to create more bedrooms if a bed could hardly fit in it. You can also choose to break open a room to make more space for the recreation area.

The question of whether more bedrooms are better…

Generally relies on two major factors, your family’s needs and your chances of reselling the house.

Depending on the situation that you are in, most of the time putting your family’s needs first would be a good choice since a home is meant for your personal use after all. You can always be creative in selling your home when and if that time comes. Just exercise your visionary skills when purchasing a house since you really don’t know what lies in the future.

How many bedrooms does your house have? Is it too many, not enough, or just right?

0 comments

We have 3 bedrooms currently, but that is only because my sister in law was living with us. Now that she has moved on we are thinking of downsizing to a smaller 2 bedroom place. We rent though so the decision is fairly easy for us.

We have five bedroom, four bathrooms, three reception rooms and a large kitchen (with some small rooms for the coffee machine and the washing machine). It is right for us – we like space and we can maintain this. One thing you didn't mention when deciding on how many bedrooms (how large) a house to buy was the cleaning; let me tell you, these bathrooms are a killer!

We were renters that bought our rental unit/house! I would like bigger because having 2 children now the 2 bedrooms just are not that big anymore. More rooms are better if you are not sacrificing the size of them. If it is a 1300 sq foot house and it is 2 bedroom or 3 bedroom, I would tend to go with the 2 bedroom to have larger rooms.

I grew up and was raised in a very small apartment. I am used to small places, and small spaces. However, lately I got spoiled. So for me it would be nice to have a library, a work out room, a guest bedroom and a master bedroom. Just for two of us I want four bedrooms! However, now we have just one and it is plenty. 🙂

My wife and I bought our house when the housing boom was going, so we had a very limited number of options, as the turnover in our neighborhood is pretty small anyway. We've debated turning one of our bedrooms into an extra-large walk-in closet. It's the resale that stops us from doing it though. Even though we'll likely never sell the place.

I noticed when we rented we stayed in much smaller and cost effective places as well. But, as a home owner we bought a home that we can literally grow into. How long is your lease on your current place?

Wow our homes are eerily similar. We currently live in a 4 bed 4.5 bathroom place and 6k sqft. Cleaning is definitely a hassle but, that's what cleaning services are for :-). I for one think that if you get a big place you need to either love cleaning or budget in cleaning services to help you with the big task.

I would go with the 3 bedroom place regardless of sqft. The reason being is that most people who look for homes do not search for 2 bedroom places at all. Are you planning on putting your house on the market and eventually upgrading?

Before buying my home (4beds 4.5 baths) we stayed in a 1 bedroom apartment. I must say having space is definitely nice. My wife and I are not on top of each other if we don't want too. But, I must say furnishing my home was quite costly. We spent roughly 2 years of rent on furnishings alone. A person doesn't have to spend as much as we did on furnishing but, we wanted specific furniture for each room and a certain look.

Unless you plan on living in that home forever I think turning the bedroom into a closet is a bad idea. Smart move on keeping the bedroom. But, you can always make a temporary change for now and change it back when you decide to sell. Waste of money? Maybe, but so are most upgrades. Have you thought of temporarily changing the bedroom to a closet?

The lease is up in June and we will be moving to a smaller place, still renting though. Property ownership in Thailand is quite difficult, if not impossible for foreigners. Plus the country is a bit politically unstable, so I really don't want to own something like property that could become difficult to sell.

I bet you can live like a King in Thailand too even with a modest retirement fund. Interesting, I had now clue foreigners could not purchase land in Thailand.

Ms Lici (LT) //

We have 4 and office. That is perfect for us. Considering we have our master bdrm, 2 rooms for the kids and a guest room. If this home did not have an office, I would have to lose my guest room. This is part of the reason we are looking at both 4 and 5 bedroom homes for our new home to buy. We rent at the moment.

I am very shocked that the average 3 bdrm home is 1500 sqft. Cleaning a lot of rooms without having help could be painful. This is exactly why my now 3yr old got very familiar with the dust-buster & vacuum at about 1.5yrs old. (no joke!)

I already know our new home is going to be costly to furnish because I know how I want it ( i mean WE know how WE want it). Although, we dont plan on having tons more space than we do now, I just want my permanent (or at least permanent for a while) home to have a certain look and feel. I can surely see the cost of the furniture you 'really want' being costly. I may redo each room one at a time to keep costs down.

When it comes to purchasing a new home, there are a lot of factors to consider. Of course, there are things like the location, the price and possible repairs,When it comes to purchasing a new home, there are a lot of factors to consider. Of course, the…